EDMONTON 0 at MINNESOTA 2

xxxEdmontonOilers.com

The Edmonton Oilers head home looking to get back in the win column after dropping a 2-0 decision to the Minnesota Wild on the road Wednesday night.

Minnesota carried the play early on, outshooting the Oilers 8-3 in the first 10 minutes of the period.

With eight minutes to go, Edmonton had its best scoring chance of the opening period. Horcoff made a nice move at the blueline then dished the puck off to Hemsky streaking down the right wing. Hemsky had a good backhand chance that Niklas Backstrom stopped.

About a minute later, Brent Burns picked up a nice pass from behind the net by Marian Gaborik. He then blasted it through a screen to beat Roloson and give Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

After one, shots on goal were 10-5 for Minnesota.

Early in the second the Oilers had a couple of good chances to tie it up. Jarret Stoll blasted a shot from the high slot that Backstrom had trouble handling but nobody was there to put home the rebound.

Next shift, Cogliano found Torres in the slot but again Backstrom was there to make the save.

After killing off a penalty to James Sheppard, Minnesota came back down the ice and scored to take a 2-0 lead. Pavol Demitra got a backhand on a loose puck in the crease during a scramble in front of Roloson.

On an Edmonton power play late in the second, the Wild created a turnover at the Oilers blueline which resulted in a breakaway for Brian Rolston. Jarret Stoll managed to race back and stick check Rolston so he didn't get a good shot off.

Shots after two were 18-10 for Minnesota.

Edmonton had perhaps its best scoring chance of the game within the opening 20 seconds of period three. Hemsky and Sanderson came in on a two-on-one. Hemsky elected to shoot but it went wide.

9:10 into the third, Branko Radivojevic looked to have scored its third of the night. Eric Belanger took the initial shot from the left circle and Roloson kicked that out to Radivojevic who redirected it in with his skate. However, it was ruled to be kicked in so the goal was disallowed.

Edmonton had a late power play after Sanderson was interfered with by Martin Skoula while forechecking deep. On the ensuing power play, the team pulled Roloson looking for a spark and got a lot of pressure but ultimately could not beat Backstrom.